Meet Mustapha Abdulai
Director, Adult Services
Mustapha Abdulai draws parallels between his work at The Guild for Human Services and research he conducted for his doctoral thesis. The director of The Guild's 11 adult residences, Mustapha has found that his work is surprisingly relevant to the thesis he completed at the Geneva Graduate School of Governance, which compared human rights in Togo and Ghana. "The bottom line in my thesis and the mission of the Guild is that they both address issues of human rights and opportunities," he says. Read more about Mustapha.
Meet Emily Calden
Speech therapy assistant
Emily Calden explains her work at The Guild for Human Services simply: "It's somewhat of a mission of mine," she says, "to give a voice to students who don't have one." A teacher who has worked at The Guild for eight years, the last seven as a speech therapy assistant, she is particularly drawn to the non-verbal students she sees. She works in both one-on-one and group settings to help her students communicate their desires, express their feelings and enhance their social skills. Read more about Emily.
Meet Aise Calixte
Residential assistant
She jokes that she’s been around longer than the trees. Well, not exactly, but longer than The Guild for Human Services has been naming its Guild School homes for trees rather than street names, a tradition that began several years ago. During Aise Calixte’s 20 years as a residential assistant at The Guild, the woman affectionately known as “Mamacita” has worked with hundreds of students ages 6 through their 22nd birthday, tending to each one as if they were her own. Read more about Aise.
Meet Karma Flanagan
Director, Administrative Services
For Karma Flanagan, what began as a one-week temporary receptionist job has developed into a decades-long career at The Guild for Human Services. Early last month, The Guild’s director of administrative services celebrated her 20 years of service, a milestone marked by students and colleagues who shared their appreciation with cards, posters, pictures, notes and flowers. “The time has kind of flown by,” Karma says. “I was supposed to be here for one week, but I liked it so much I never left.” Read more about Karma.
